Sexing Green Sunfish

how would I go about sexing these guys? Im planning on breeding them but dont know males from females.

Run search on "vent sexing". Will find example dealing with green sunfish.

thanks alot now i just need to get some green sunfish. What is more aggressive pure green sunfish or a green sunfish pumpkinseed cross? Because some guy said they were 3x more aggressive than a pure green?

Apparently as you wrote I was looking at our pumpkinseed hybrids to see what trouble would be required to get the final round of photographs. So I know something about them. The pumpkinseed x green F1 is very aggressive but I have not quantified it or seen any reports of such an effort. Every last one of the 500 or so pumkinseed x green sunfish we reared has been a male. The males appear to be completely sterile but will still dig a nest and court females so they will not be a good candidate for propogation efforts unless you have the hybrid male rear another fishes brood.

I recommend using a pure sunfish in your efforts.

thank you some guy on yahoo answers said that and i just wanted to see if it was true. Were planning on setting a new world record (yes very original) because no one really cares about the green sunfish and they seem liek a sweet fish in aquariums (definately NOT ponds)

How are you going to create a world record green sunfish? You can get an good male to about 80% of the world record weight within three years if grown indoors but most animals just do not have the genetic potential to reach record size. Are you aware of any green sunfish populations prone to produce large individuals?

I think making attempt with triploids will be most likely route for success. Will still need a very regular high quality food supply and minimal competition / social stress to get such animals to extreme size.

Edited by centrarchid, 16 June 2009 - 08:16 AM.

its a little "project" with my friends and I. We have access to nice sized 6"ers that are nasty enough to eat a 3" minnows and we have 3"ers eating 3" minnows so i think they'll do well. I know it wont be anything easy but i just want to try something new and chose these guys because there small enough to raise in my basement

I would start with 3 inchers or even smaller. Once the fish commit to reproduction, growth from that point on appears to be slowed, even if reproductive effort is stopped. The best fish would be some tank spawned fish that have not been exposed to parasites. Parasites may impose limitations on growth rate. Also rapid growth for weight resulting in a fat belly, even when fish have not fed for a couple days may not be best for sustained growth. I would target feeds that promote length increase, protein can be high, but energy, especially from carbohydrate (sugars such as starch) should not be high enough to cause big bellies indicated previously. Stay away fro catfish feed. Live foods only may not be the best for fish in confinement, so mix it up. Better cover your tanks tight. We have lost monster brood stock to jumping more than once after a couple years of exceptional growth. Housing fish so they can not get to each other might also be a plus. Best growth will come if fish become docile enough to feed from your hand.

ok thank you for all the help. I will feed fish something along the lines of these diets:
Flies
Crickets
Earthworms
Wax Worms
Termites
Ants
Then fish food but I have yet to find any I like. I will feed 3x a day rotating foods and amounts. I will raise fish in pairs or seperatly in 10g tanks until they prove they have a specific gene to getting abnormally larger, if they fail they go to my pond, if they pass they are kept in those tanks. Once ready to breed, they will stay in their 10g (depending on size) and I will add another fish of the opposite sex also chosen to keep due to specific traits. Once they breed the parents are removed to another tank, the fry are kept in their and once they are large enough, will repeat the cycle over and over until I have fish larger than normal. I left some things out due to my tiredness, but once the fish outgrow the 10g they will move to 20L and after that 55g tubs and after that ponds. One pond will be specifically for my larger fish, others for extras. Hopefully you guys understand what Im trying to say, but now im going to sleep

Then fish food but I have yet to find any I like. I will feed 3x a day rotating foods and amounts. I will raise fish in pairs or seperatly in 10g tanks until they prove they have a specific gene to getting abnormally larger, if they fail they go to my pond, if they pass they are kept in those tanks. Once ready to breed, they will stay in their 10g (depending on size) and I will add another fish of the opposite sex also chosen to keep due to specific traits. Once they breed the parents are removed to another tank, the fry are kept in their and once they are large enough, will repeat the cycle over and over until I have fish larger than normal. I left some things out due to my tiredness, but once the fish outgrow the 10g they will move to 20L and after that 55g tubs and after that ponds. One pond will be specifically for my larger fish, others for extras. Hopefully you guys understand what Im trying to say, but now im going to sleep

The end result is not unlike what we are doing with bluegill. You will find your resources available will greatly reduce your ability to do much selective breeding and the time required to realize your desired changes will take several fish generations. The maximum number of generations you will get is about 2 per year if you are extremely experienced at breeding sunfishes.